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TDSAT upholds 3G intra-circle pact of telcos, quashes fines
PM to chair plan panel meet today
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Hope of stable govt boosts economic sentiment
Airtel’s Q4 net profit jumps 89%
HC asks Nokia to pay 10% of Rs 2,400-crore tax demand
Ford rolls out new-look Endeavour
KG basin row
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TDSAT upholds 3G intra-circle pact of telcos,
New Delhi, April 29 Officials in the DoT said they had not taken any decision yet on whether the department will once again appeal against the TDSAT order in the Supreme Court and would only do so after studying the TDSAT order in full. If the DoT does not appeal against the TDSAT order, it would not only be good for subscribers but also for the operators, whose revenue from 3G services could go up by 25 to 30%. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular had approached the TDSAT against the DoT order to stop 3G intra-circle roaming agreement under which they had also agreed to acquire customers in the areas where they did not win spectrum. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular won 3G spectrum in 2010 auction. Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 out of 22 telecom service areas for Rs 12,295.46 crore, Vodafone in nine for Rs 11,617.86 crore and Idea in 11 circles for Rs 5,768.59 crore. These telcos then began entering into ICR pacts to offer seamless connectivity to 3G customers. The DoT issued notice to Airtel, Vodafone and Idea on December 23, 2011, asking them to stop 3G ICR within 24 hours and report compliance but the order was challenged by the telecom operators. As part of the agreement, Airtel had sought access to Vodafone’s 3G network in four service areas - Maharashtra, Kolkata, Haryana and UP East, while Vodafone accessed six 3G circles of Airtel — Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, North-East, Rajasthan and UP West besides seven circles of Idea Cellular — Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP West and Punjab. Idea is yet to start 3G services in Punjab. Under the agreement, Idea Cellular secured right to provide 3G service using Vodafone’s network in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kolkata. Intra-circle roaming agreement
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PM to chair plan panel meet today
New Delhi, April 29 Sources said the main agenda of the meeting was to discuss the progress of the mid-term appraisal of the 12th Plan. The officials in the Planning Commission have been asked to do data crunching on the progress of the plan. Since the members of the Planning Commission will be ending their tenure shortly, each of them will be making a presentation to the PM on the areas under their supervision. There is likely to be no revision of the plan targets at this stage as the mid-term appraisal of the plan targets will be done by the new government. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has already said the new government will carry out the appraisal. The Planning Commission had set a target of 8% annual average growth for the 12th Plan. The economy has performed below average in the first two years of this period. According to estimates of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the economy is expected to grow at 4.9 per cent in 2013-14. The economy saw a 4.5 per cent growth in 2012-13 - the first year of the five-year Plan period. Right now, the Planning Commission is carrying out preparatory work and since the appraisal is due in September or October this year, by that time a new Planning Commission would be well-prepared to carry out a formal exercise. A review of the current state of the economy is also likely to be taken up at the meeting. The PM is expected to give his viewpoint on the future course of action to the members and advisors of the Planning Commission. He may give his guidance to the officials on future strategy and how to proceed ahead with the plan process. |
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Hope of stable govt boosts economic sentiment
New Delhi, April 29 The survey says that stakeholders have pinned their hopes on the imminent change in political leadership which has pushed the future sentiment score to 63 in comparison to 50 in the last survey. Financial institutions too have an optimistic view of the future as compared to the last quarter where they were somewhat pessimistic. Nearly 67 per cent of the respondents foresee an improvement in residential project launches and sales over the next six months. However, price appreciation is likely to remain sluggish. According to the survey, new office supply is expected to be restrained during that period, though stakeholders expect an upsurge in leasing volume by the end of third quarter of 2014. Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India, said “The latest round of the FICCI-Knight Frank Real Estate Sentiment Index survey aptly captures the optimism of stakeholders who have pinned their hopes on the imminent change in political leadership at the Centre.” Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, said, “As the country waits for the new government to take charge at the Centre, future sentiments have improved across all zones in the realty sector.” |
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Airtel’s Q4 net profit jumps 89%
New Delhi, April 29 Net profit came in at Rs 962 crore, up from Rs 509 crore a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose by 13.5 per cent to Rs 22,219 crore. However, its net profit was lower than estimates of about Rs 1,007 crore, as was suggested by industry watchers. However, the profit before tax was much higher than the estimates at Rs 2,538 crore. Consolidated mobile data revenue at Rs 1,900 crore grew by 93.4 per cent y-o-y, accounting for more than one-third of the growth. International revenue grew by 17.2 per cent y-o-y in INR terms with Africa growing by 16.4 per cent and South Asia by 30 per cent. Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 7,307 crore grew by 20.6 per cent y-o-y, with margin expanding by 1.9 per cent to 32.9 per cent. The Board has proposed a final dividend of Rs 1.80 per share (face value of Rs 5 per share) for the financial year ended March 31, 2014, subject to approval by the
shareholders. |
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India-born Rajeev Suri is Nokia CEO
New Delhi, April 29 He will replace Stephen Elop, who returned to Microsoft with the sale of Nokia’s handset unit for about $7.2 billion. In choosing Suri, Nokia is returning focus on wireless-network equipment, a space where it competes with larger rivals like Ericsson and China's Huawei. Suri, an Indian national based in Espoo, Finland, is credited with turning around the loss-making network equipment unit with costs cuts and shedding unprofitable businesses. He has been with Nokia since 1995 and was widely expected to become chief executive. He was NSN head for the past four years. Like the newly appointed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Suri too is a Mangalore University graduate engineer with majors in electronics and telecommunications. He joins the elite club of Indians heading global firms, which includes PepsiCo chairman Indra Nooyi, Reckitt Benckiser CEO Rakesh Kapoor, president and CEO of MasterCard Ajay Banga and Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank.
— PTI |
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HC asks Nokia to pay 10% of Rs 2,400-crore tax demand
Chennai, April 29 The court observed that the Sales Tax Department ought to have given an opportunity to Nokia and heard its objections over the Rs 2,400 crore tax dispute. The state slapped the tax notice accusing Nokia of evading tax, but the company disputed the claim. On March 28, Nokia moved the high court and prayed for restraining the Sales Taxes Department from taking any coercive steps in any manner whatsoever in pursuance of the impugned order. The state government had issued the Rs 2,400 crore notice to Nokia, saying the company had been selling the products produced from Chennai plant to the domestic market, instead of shipping them overseas. Nokia management had responded to the notice, saying that it was a “baseless” claim by the Sale Tax Department.
— PTI |
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Ford rolls out new-look Endeavour
Chandigarh, April 29 Talking to The Tribune, Harris, who was in town to launch the new version of Endeavour for Punjab (which is the biggest market for Endeavour), said the company was committed to a $2 billion investment in India. “We already have a plant in Chennai, and we are in the process of setting up another plant at Sanand in Gujarat. The plant will start by the yearend, though it will come into commercial production by mid 2015,” he said. Harris said the company was already exporting almost 50% of their vehicles from its manufacturing plant in Chennai to over 50 countries. “With the commissioning of the plant at Sanand, we will continue to focus on the domestic and export market from here. At present, our best selling model is EcoSport and since its launch in June 2013, we have sold its 45,000 units,” he said. |
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Chandigarh, April 29
